Chapter Text
POV: Hunter ⚡️
Wind blew through Hunter’s short hair as he rode on his staff, high above. Anxiety churned in his stomach, making him nauseous. The plan with work, the plan will work, the plan will work… he told himself over and over. The plan to sneak into South Knee Camp as Caleb will work. Flapjack tweeted
“What if it doesn’t work, though?” he chriped.
Hunter grimaced. “Let’s hope it does. It has to, Flap.” He lowered his artificial staff, so he could see the road and when it split off to South Knee.
He landed as safely as possible when he saw the turn. Taking off his cape, putting it into his messenger bag, and straightening his Hexside uniform underneath , he walked toward where the buses were starting make the drive back. He went to find some sort of adult to talk to. He approached a tall witch in a bright orange t-shirt that read ‘TEEN VOLUNTEER’. Close enough.
“Hello. I’m Caleb, Caleb Bloodwilliams. I was supposed to be here already, on the bus, but I slept through my alarm and my mom-” he paused for a split second, because the word was unfamiliar to him. “-had to fly me here.”
The volunteer turned around, looking at him with doe eyes. “Oh! Don’t tell that to me, honeybee, tell that to Francine. I think you are in my cabin, though.” He said, pointing him in the direction of whoever this ‘Francine’ was.
“Thank you, sir.”
He followed the uneven path and casually joined a group heading in the same direction. No one seemed to really notice. Some even recognized him from flyer derby. It is working. The plan is working!
The group filed into the building titled ‘Camper Center and Eating Hall’. They came to a stop, seeming to wait for instructions. Hunter was good at that. He looked around, trying to be casual. A bunch of other groups were also waiting, talking to each other in the meantime. The air was thick with the scent of sandwiches, along with a bunch of witches’s mixed smells (some good, some bad). There was a lot of tables, with 8 chairs at each, a small stage in middle of the back wall, and two doors. Each table had a laminated sign, but Hunter was too far to read from it. He also noticed there was an empty water pitcher, a basket of ketchup and mustard packs, and napkins in each table as well.
“Alright-y alright-y, campers! Welcome to your first meal at the camp, we’re having ham & cheese sandwiches, and some potato chips to go along with that. There is a specific process we go through during mealtimes, and if you pay attention and get this done smoothly, you can be eating in no time.” A short, ginger witch explained, talking into a microphone on the stage. “So after we get you seated, there is one table per cabin, and any extra campers that didn’t fit will go to our overfill tables, you’ll be picking your ‘server’ for that meal, who will go into the RIGHT SIDE door, get the food, fill the pitcher and come back through the LEFT door. If you want seconds, or a refill, you need to ask the server to get it for you.” This must be Francine.
Will, who Hunter learned was the volunteer that he talked to earlier, herded the 11 members of ‘Construction 5’ to a table. He got to sit at the main table where Will was.
“Okay, who wants to be-no, Victor, wait until the food’s out.” he stopped to scold Victor.”Who wants to be the server, raise your hand.” A couple witches raised their hand and he picked at random. “Jerbo, go on.” Odd name, Hunter thought.
He rested his head in his hand, closing his eyes for a moment. What would I be doing now, if I wasn’t here? he wondered. Probably on a mission to capture some wild witches, or something. Probably hungry, since no one has time to eat while on a mission. Probably studying a manual, or a dictionary of some sort, doing Ms. Clawthorne’s job single-handily since she quit. Probably- His thoughts were interrupted by Jerbo bringing back a plate of sandwiches, that sure, looked bland, but it was still nourishment.
“Ew, ham & cheese? It’s the cafeteria ham! Gross.” Complained a student with curly blue hair.
Most deconstructed their sandwiches, only eating the cheese. “It smells…funky…” said another.
Hunter scarfed down his, as he did with most of his meals. When he was about halfway through it, Will stopped him. “Woah! Slow down, Caleb. Eating fast messes up your digestion.” he said. “Enjoy your food, no one’s going to take it away, believe me. Do your parents feed you?”
“They do,” He quickly lied. “I just didn’t have time to eat before leaving, so I’m pretty hungry.” More like I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, but close enough.
Will bought it, going back to his poetry book and eating his potato chips. Jerbo, who was next to him, leaned into him, in an uncomfortable way,
“So, Caleb, how did you get that scar, on your cheek? It looks like it hurt.”
“Uh, it’s a lame story, but sure.” He bought himself sometime to come up with a non-concerning, this is not from a mission, story. “When I was young, my father went hunting a lot, and sometimes I’d tag along. We came across this horned animal, and I got pretty close to it. My dad killed him with one swift strike, and on the way down, the horns cut my face.” Yeah, this totally isn’t from a giant creature’s claw, just a antler.
He took the bait, skeptically. The rest of the meal rushed by quickly. Hunter counted having about 18 minutes to eat. 7 minutes were spent getting everyone into their seat, and getting the food out. Will collected Construction 5 and led all the guys outside.
POV: Amity 💜
Oracle 10 was a good mix of witches: There was Amity, Luz, Willow, Skara, Boshca, Bo, Viney, a girl with a moon-shaped head (of which Amity couldn’t ever remember her name), and their teen volunteer, Bea. The meal they had eaten was, well, mediocre. She didn’t have high expectations in the first place. Bea, who Amity already liked, lead them around campus and pointed out some buildings. They took them to the Oracle 9 & 10 cabin, that was split in half like a duplex.
“Oh, yuck!” Boscha exclaimed as she stepped into their side of the cabin.
It wasn’t exactly a 5-star hotel or anything, it was just an open room with about 5 bunk beds, two dressers, and a door labeled with a bathroom sign. The bathroom had 3 stalls, 3 showers, and 2 sinks. It smelt faintly of mold and piss.
Bea let everyone claim their bunk partners, taking their own bunk to themself. After some discussion it was decided who with who: Luz and Amity, Willow and Viney, Boscha and Skara, and Bo and Moon Girl (her preferred name was Selene).
“Batata, do you want top or bottom?” Luz asked casually, taking a blanket from her suitcase and tucking it under the gymnastics mat (sheets included, but not put on) that the camp called a bed, creating the start of a fort.
She means the bunk bed, Amity, get your mind out of the garbage. “Uh, top, batata.”
“Alright, rapscallions, I’m gonna go over some ground rules after y’all unpack. You have 10 minutes, use it wisely.” Bea called. They were putting the sheets on their bed, throwing over an assortment of knitted blankets on top of the provided comforter. Fairy lights were hung from the ladder on both sides onto the top bunk, which they were using as a place to put Smashcalms (Boiling Isles version of squishmellows).
Amity’s suitcase was neatly packed, everything folded and organized. She decided to take out what she needed when they needed it. There was a tug at the corners of their mouth as they realized this was her first year at South Knee with actual friends, and a girlfriend. It disappeared, however, when they noticed the comforter offered was a regular schmegular blanket. They knew she should’ve brought more blankets.
As they sat of the foot of her bed, out of the way of Luz making a fort of the bottom bunk. She looked around the room, noticing how Boscha was ordering Skara on where to put her things, watching Willow put plants on the windowsill nearest to her, laughing as Selene struggled to put on the sheets and kept bumping her horns on the bed.
By the end of the ten minutes, the previous bare cabin transformed into a cluttered mess (of Amity disliked, but she kept that to themself). Bea ordered them all to sit in a circle in the middle of the room.
“Well, welcome to your first day at South Knee! My name is Bea, you all ready knew that, and I’m going to say some basic ground rules, considering we are going to be living with one another for a couple days.” They started, a frog Smashcalm in their lap. “Respect. I’ll respect y’all and y’alls things, if you respect me and my things. Y’all got that?”
They all collectively nodded.
“Cool. I’m also going to ask that there is no bullying, physical and mental, so no hate speech, slurs, physical altercations and bringing someone down, uh, no thievery, and no loose salamanders, it happened once.” They counted with their fingers. “Okay, so lights out is at 10pm, and y’all need to get up at 7. If you want to stay up, that’s on you, just be quiet and blame yourself when you’re exhausted. I’ll let y’all in on something, you’re not supposed to have food in here. I don’t care, as long as I get a piece. You’re also not supposed to have electronics,” Boscha loudly groaned. “but, again, I don’t care, don’t get caught and be cool about it.” was their response to her. “Questions?”
An assortment of hands were raised, they decided that they would ask in clockwise order.
“What’s the changing situation?” Viney asked.
Some others nodded in agreement, also curious. “If you’re uncomfortable around others, change in the stalls. But if you’re cool with it, we were all assigned female at birth here, no judgement.”
“Are we gonna be with you all week?” Boscha said with a rude tone.
“Yea, I’m your counselor.” They responded with the same tone.
Everyone ended up asking questions, some more dumb than others. They also did icebreakers. After of which, Bea explained what they would be doing for the first day.
“Here in a minute, I’m going to take you all bay for a bit, where I’ll tell you about shells, exciting. After, we’re going to the gift shop and snack bar, for snacks and swag. And while we’re there..giant swing!” They acted like they were telling them about the greatest concept ever.
Confused murmurs come from the group.
“It’s three seats, suspended in the air inbetween two tree branches, three people get strapped into it and then you have to release the hook holding you in place, where it swings back and forth like a swing, but giant.” They explained. “After that, dinner, and South Knee Live!. Oh, and bed.”
Oracle 10 headed down to the beach, dividing into their down social groups. They chatted with one another. Chilly October wind hair blew through Amity’s hair in a way she didn’t like, like the wind wanted to mess up their hair, even after she had it just the way they wanted. Luz laughed beside them, at an inside joke she had with Willow. Luz is around to have friends, Amity. Her mind’s response to a pang of jealousy coursing through them. The sky above them was a dark grey that looked like concrete to them. It promised rain in the near future.
Bea stopped the group in their tracks. “Just some rules, stay where I can see y’all, don’t go into the water, don’t be hellions. Got it?” They offered a thumbs up. “Go have fun!”